Burying Thomas Ashe: A Funeral Unlike Any Other.

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Thomas Ashe

The centenary of the funeral of Thomas Ashe occurs next week, a defining moment of a year in which the revolutionary forces continued to reorganise themselves after the Easter Rising.

In some ways, 30 September 1917 was a replay of 1 August 1915, the day when P.H Pearse told the gathered mourners at the funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa that “life springs from death, and from the graves of patriot men and women spring live nations.” Now, Pearse himself was dead and gone, and the Volunteer movement had lost both men and rifles to Easter Week. The logistics of the Ashe funeral were to prove a challenge to a revolutionary movement reemerging from the shadows.

The Thomas Ashe funeral, much like that of O’Donovan Rossa, was political theatre and a propaganda spectacle, and as Fianna Éireann boyscout Seán Prendergast remembered it, “the funeral of Ashe epitomised not the…

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Thomas Ashe, Peadar Kearney and Piaras Beaslai Memorial at Glasnevin Cemetery

“Memorial to Three Patriots Unveiled”

In 1967, the 50^th anniversary of the death of Thomas Ashe, a memorial was unveiled at Glasnevin Cemetery in honour of Thomas Ashe, Peadar Kearney and Piaras Beaslai by former Fianna Eireann Chief of Staff Mr Eamon Martin.

The headstone was erected from a fund raised by a memorial committee appointed by the Association of the Old Dublin Brigade of the IRA, of which Beaslai was a one-time president.

The following are extracts from a report that featured in the Irish Independent the day after the unveiling:

“A memorial of Kilkenny limestone sculptured in the shape of a scroll was unveiled in the republican plot, Glasnevin Cemetry, to commemorate the three patriots and poets, Thomas Ashe, Peader Kearney and Piaras Beaslai, who are buried in the same grave.

At the front of the stone is a couplet from one of the poems of Beaslai:

“The freedom, fair name and happiness of the Gael were my only desires from my earliest days”.

The unveiling ceremony was performed by Mr Eamon Martin, former Chief of Staff of Fianna Eireann, who, since the death of Piaras Beaslai in 1965, is the last surviving member of the Provisional Committee of the Irish Volunteers.

The Memorial in 2017. Credit: Niall Oman, Glasnevin.

More than 400 people attended the ceremony held in brilliant sunshine, including 200 Old IRA comrades from many parts of the country.

General Richard Mulcahy, who was second in command to Comdt. Thomas Ashe at the Battle of Ashbourne, in an oration, said they were making a grave of significance where the memory of three mingled lives would, as the days passed, enlighten their memories, enoble their emotions and inspire their doings.

Present at yesterday’s ceremony were surviving relatives of the patriots. These included Miss Nora Ashe and Mr Gregory Ashe, sister and brother of Thomas Ashe; John Kearney, Mrs Margaret Burke and Mrs Maura Slater, brother and sisters of Peadar Kearney, and Messr. B Green and R. Sheehan, cousin of Piaras Beaslai.

Others present included: Mr. Vincent Byrne, Chairman of the Dublin Brigade, Old IRA and Chairman of the Piaras beaslai Memorial Committee, Colonel J B Lawless, who served under Thomas Ashe at the Battle of Ashbourne, and Mr Martin Walton, Vice-Chairman of the Memorial Committee.”

Markievicz Plaque at Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital Dublin

A plaque that was erected at Sir Patrick Dun’s hospital in Dublin in memory of Madame Markievicz.

Former Fianna comrade Eamon Martin donated this plaque in honour of his close friend. It was unveiled by Eamon Martin (left) and Eamon de Valera in 1967.

Eamon Martin also provided funds that were to be used for an annual nursing award/medal to be known as the ‘Countess Markievicz’ medal.

Sir Patrick Dun’s hospital opened in 1808 and was named after the Irish physician Sir Patrick Dun. The hospital closed in the 1980s. The building still stands and is in use by the HSE as the Dublin Public Analyst’s Laboratory (and is apparently frequently also used for marriage ceremonies) however the status of the plaque is unknown; hopefully it is still in place.

1949 Easter Rising Commemoration

Veterans march for 33rd time, April 24th, 1949

“April 24, anniversary of The Rising, was remembered for the 33rd time when the veterans who fought that day and through the following years, marched from St Stephens Green, through the crowded streets, to the GPO.

At the GPO they were formed in four columns to hear the proclamation of the Republic.

On the platform were Comdt. – Gen Piaras Beaslai and [former Fianna Eireann Chief of Staff] Eamon Martin, the two surviving members of the original Irish Volunteer Executive.”

Irish Press April 25th 1949